Catalog
10 Livres Syriennes
| Issuer | Banque de Syrie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Currency | Livre syrienne (1920-1947) |
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| Obverse description | Red-brown note with a central text panel carrying bilingual (French and Arabic) denomination inscriptions and the redemption clause 'Remboursable au porteur contre 200 Francs en chèque sur Paris', dated Beyrouth le 1er Juillet 1920. To the left, an intaglio vignette of a tall minaret tower rises above an ornate guilloche underprint, while the numeral '10' appears at upper right and lower left corners. Signature lines for the Administrator and the Director appear at lower centre, with a single manuscript signature visible below the Administrator title. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Syrie was established by French mandate authority in 1919, and this 10 Livres note belongs to the earliest series issued under that arrangement — a direct instrument of the post-Ottoman monetary reorganization following the Sykes-Picot partition. The French Treasury effectively underwrote the bank's initial capitalization, making these early notes quasi-sovereign obligations dressed as commercial paper.
Imprimerie Nationale in Paris handled the work, as it did for most French colonial and mandate currency of the period. The livre syrienne was pegged to the French franc at par, a decision that tied Syrian monetary conditions directly to postwar French fiscal instability.